Starter for internal-combustion engines.



W. R. STRICKLAND.

STARTER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION TILED JAN.5, 1912.

Patented Oct. 7, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1 W. R. STRIGKLAND.

STARTER FOB. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 5, 1912. 1 074 99Q Patented 0013.7, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

40 46' 4 l' d 6 f Wz 'ne oed" LIUCJVZ'ZHOT mfA M $45M W W. R. STRIOKLAND.

STARTER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 5, 1912.

1,074,990. 1 Patented 0013.7, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Wi'fn 66 356 5 M N lnuenfor a K WM STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM R. STRICKLAND, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE PEERLESS MOTOR CAR COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

STARTER FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION EN GINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 7,1913.

To all whom 215 may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM R. Simon- LAND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and ,State of Ohio, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Starters for Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. 1

This invention relates to starters for internal combustion engines of motor vehicles and has for its main object to provide a starter having high efficiency and wherein certain objectionable features of prior starting devices are eliminated.

One of the more s ecific objects is to provide a starter inclu ing a power device or motor which is normally out of driving relation with the engine, but wherein the driving relation is established by mechanism which may be actuated by the operator to effect the starting but which after the driving relation is established is no longer under the control of the operator.

Further, the invention aims to provide a starter including a motor which can be connected to the engine for starting purposes only when the conditions are suitable for starting,the mechanism which I have provided preventing the driving relation between the motor and engine being estab-v lished unless the engine is stationary and the spark is retarded.

My invention may be briefly summarized as consisting in certain novel details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts which will be described in. the s cificatlon and set forth in the appended c aims. 7

Although my invention in its broad aspects may be embodied in many specifically different forms of apparatus, in the drawings I have shown one embodiment which answers the requirements very effectively, and in the drawings,

Figure l is a partial sectional and partial side elevation of a starter arranged in accordance with my invention and applied to a motor vehicle, only a port-ion of which is here shown, parts being broken away and other parts not essential to an understanding of the invention being omitted; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same with the footboard and bottom of the vehicle shown in Fig. 1 removed; Fig. 3 is apartial sectional view substantially along the line 3'-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow, parts being broken away; Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of the starter controlling mechanism, the parts being here shown somewhat conventionally; Figs. 5, 6 7, 8 and 9 show in different relative posit1ons in conventional manner two additional parts of the starter controlling mechanism; and Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing electric connections.

In the drawings, I have shown merely the fly wheel 10 of the internal combustion engme carried by the motor vehicle, a portion of the frame of which is shown at 11. I do not consider it necessary to show any additional parts of the motor vehicle or of the engine, as these may be of any suitable constructlon.

The starting mechanism includes a power device or motor 12 which in this case is an electric motor. The motor 12 is supported.

by the frame 11 in any suitable manner,

preferably just atthe rear and at one side of the engine, and with its axis extending longitudinally of the frame. The gearing by which the motor may turn over or drive the engine includes in this case a gear 13 on the fly wheel 10, which gear may be in the form of a band provided with gear teeth out therein and secured in any suitable mannerto the periphery of the fly wheel. The driving connection also includes a much smaller gear 1 1 which is splined and slidably mounted on the shaft 15 of the motor 12. The gear 14 is normally out of mesh with the gear 13 and it is designed to be moved forwardly so as to engage and drive the gear 13, and to be moved rearwardly to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so as to break the driving engagement between the motor and engine. This gear is adapted to be moved forwardly and rearwardly by mechanism including a shifting yoke 16 mounted for rocking movement u on a shaft 17 which is supported in suitab e bearings from a bracket 18 secured to the vehicle frame. The yoke is adapted to be rocked so as to shift the gear 14 into mesh with the fly wheel gear 13 by the operator, and the mechanism for causing this movement includes a startercontrolling member here shown as a foot pedal 19 which projects upwardly through is normally thrown upwardly by a spring 20 is connected at its lower end to an arm 21 mounted upon a horizontal shaft 22 suitably supported for rotary movement below the footboard or bottom of the vehicle. To one end of this shaft 22 is secured a second arm 23, which is connected by a forwardly projecting link 24 to an arm 25 integral with a head or sleeve 28 which is movable about the axis of the shaft 17. This sleeve 28 is arranged at one side of the yoke 16 and is provided with a shoulder 28 adapted to engage a similar shoulder 16 of the yoke. The sleeve 28 is, however, movable longitudinally of the shaft 17 toward and away from the yoke, the sleeve being mounted upon a second sleeve 29 having on its surface one or more coarse pitch threads as shown in Fig. 3. The sleeve 28 is provided on its interior with spiral grooves so as to accommodate the threads of the sleeve 29 and when these two parts are moved relatively the action is similar to that of a nut and screw. When the sleeve 28 is in the position shown in Fig. 3 relative to the yoke 16, it will be seen that if the foot pedal is depressed, the yoke will be turned about the axis of the shaft 17 and the gear 14 will be thrown into mesh with the fly wheel gear 13.

The shaft 17 or any other part which is turned with the yoke 16 by the mechanism just described is provided with a blade 30 of a motor controlling switch, which blade is adapted to cooperate with one or more stationary contacts 31 so that when they gear 14 is thrown into mesh with the fly wheel gear 13 by the operator, the switch is closed and the circuit of the motor is completed.

By referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that beneath the motor there is provided a magnet 32, which as will afterward appear, is in the motor circuit, and by reference to Figs. 1 and 3, it will be seen that the gear shifting yoke 16 has a downwardly projecting arm 33 having-at its lower end an enlargement which serves as an armature for the magnet 32. This arm 33 has connected to it a spring 34, see particularly Figs. 1 and 2, connected to a stationary bracket 35, and so arranged that it tends to oppose the movement of the yoke just described and also serves to throw the gear 14 out of engagement with the gear 13 as will be explained. When the gear 14 is thrown into engagement with the gear 13 by the depression of the foot pedal and by the turning movement imparted to the yoke 16 by the sleeve 28, the switch is closed so as to start the motor and energize the magnet 32, and as the sleeve 28 is turned to throw the gear into mesh, it rotates on the threaded sleeve 29 which at that time is stationary, and by the action of the threads is moved longitudinally of the sleeve 29. When the yoke has been rocked to a position such that the switch is closed and the gear 14 is partly or wholly in mesh with the fiy wheel gear, the shoulder 28 on the sleeve 28 moves out of driving relation with the corresponding shoulder on the sleeve of the yoke. \Vhen this takes place, the gear 14 is no longer under the control of the operator. \Vhen the two" shoulders are moved out of engagement, the spring 34 isprevented from moving the gear 14 and yoke to normal positions, by the magnet 32 which attracts to itthe arm 33 connected to the yoke. Not only does the magnet prevent the gear 14 being thrown out of mesh with the gear 13, but itmay even serve to complete the 'forward movement of the gear. 14 so as to place it in full' mesh in case it is desired that the driving engagement between the two shoulders be broken before the operator.

is enabled to move the gear 14 in full mesh with the gear 13. The motor now drives or turns over the engine through the speed reduction gearing referred to until the engine picks up or is self actuating and as soon as this occurs, the gear 14 is immediately thrown out of mesh with the gear 13 by reason of the partial deenergization of the magnet 32, to a point such that the pull of the spring 34 is in excess of the magnetic attraction between the magnet and its armature. This partial denergizat-ion is due to the fact that as soon as the engine is self-driving, there is great increase in the counter electro-motive force of the motor, which chokes back to such an extent the motor and magnet cur rent that the'magnet 32 is sufficiently denergized to enable the spring to quickly disengage the gears 13 and 14. The disen gagement of the two gears takes place, however, regardless of whether or not theoperator keeps the pedal 19 depressed, for as before'stated, the control over the gear 14 is taken from the operatorby reason of the screw and nut action of the two sleeves 28. and 29.

According to an important part of the present invention next to be described, I provide means for preventing the reestablishment of operative connection between the foot pedal and the gear 14 unless the engine is at rest and the spark is retarded as it should be when the engine is being started by hand orotherwise. lBy preventing the restablishment of the operative connectionbetween the foot pedal and gear 14, until after these two conditions are fulfilled, I avoid all danger of injury to or destruction of the starter which might result from throwing in the gear when the engine is in operation, or when the engine is at rest and the spark is advanced. l accomplish this by mechanism which controls and actuates the threaded sleeve 29, and hence the sleeve 28, to which the foot pedal is connected. While this sleeve 29 may be controlled and actuated in the desired manner by many specifically different cont-rolling mechanisms, I shall only describe the one form here shown. It will be noted that the sleeve 29 has an outwardly projecting arm 36 and that this arm is connected by an upwardly extending link 37, a bell crank 38, and a link 39 to an arm 40 which is fixed upon a horizontal shaft 41 mounted in suitable bearings supported from the frame of the machine just in front of the fly wheel. This shaft 41 is designed to be turned so as to turn the sleeve 29 and shift the sleeve 28 so that its shoulder moves into interlocking engagement with the shoulder of the sleeve of the yoke by means of a spring 42 which is connected to an arm 43 also fixed to the shaft 41. This shaft 41 is designed to be turned against the action of the sprin 42 so as to turn the threaded sleeve 29 in a direction such that the sleeve 28 is moved away from the yoke by the spark controlling mechanism acting through an arm 44 mounted on the shaft 41, and by the engine, when in operation, acting through a solenoid 45 which is energized when the engine is in operation and an arm 46 con; nected to the solenoid and also mounted upon the shaft 41. The arrangement of the various arms on the shaft 41 is perhaps best illustrated in Fig. 4.

The arm 44 and the arm 46 each have a pin and shoulder connection with the shaft 41 so that either arm is instrumental in turning the shaft 41 in one direction, but not in the other. The arm 44 is designed to be connected to the spark control mechanism which in itself is not here shown, as it may be of the usual form including the spark control leveron the steering post, connected in the usual manner to the distributer of the ignition apparatus. This arm 44 may be connected to any suitable part of the spark control mechanism and in any suitable manner. The solenoid 45 is designed to be energi zed when the engine is in operation, and deenergized when the engine is at rest. Inasmuch as I prefer to employ a dynamo 47 driven by the engine for vehicle lighting purposes, the solenoid 45 may be connected in or to the dynamo circuit, as illustrated in the diagrammatic representation of Fig. 10. This dynamo is always in operation when the engine is running, and hence the solenoid 45 is energized as long as and whenever the engine is in operation.

For a complete understanding of the action of the spark control mechanism and en-.

gine in the prevention of the reestablishment of the driving relation between the foot pedal mechanism and the yoke 16, it may be well to refer to Figs. 5 to 9. Assuming that the spark is retarded and-that the engine is at rest, sleeve 28 and the sleeve of the yoke 16 will be in the relative positions shown in Fig.5, with the two shoulders in looking engagement. After the engine is started in the manner previously explained, and after the sleeve 28 has been moved out of operative relation with the sleeve of the yoke, as was also explained, the sleeve 28 and the sleeve of the yoke occupy substantially the relative positions shown in Fig. 6,-that is, they will have these relative positions during the starting of the engine and while the motor is in operation and the foot pedal is still depressed. After the engine has started and the gear 14 has been thrown to normal position out of mesh with the gear 13, the

has simply turned back to normal position and the sleeve 28 remains in the same position as in Fig. .6. As soon as the engine has picked up'or started in operation, the operator will at once advance the spark, in which case through the sparkcontrol mechanism, the shaft 41 will be turned in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1, through the medium of the arm 44 and the pin and shoulder connection referred to and illustrated in Fig. 4.. This movement of the shaft 41' through the connecting mechanism between the shaft .41 and the threaded sleeve 29 turns the latter so that the sleeve 28 acting as a nut is-moved away from the yoke, after which the sleeve 28 and yoke occupy the position substantially as shown in Fig. 8. The sleeve 28 is thus moved away from the yoke but retains the same angular posit-ion with reference thereto, as in Fig. 7. If the operator should next remove his foot from the pedal 19, the spring 20 surrounding the arm of the foot pedal, turns the sleeve 28 so as to cause said sleeve to move toward the yoke until the sleeve and yoke occupy substantially the positions shown in Fig. 9. The two shoulders are now adjacent, each other, and the sleeve 28 and sleeve of the yoke occupy the same relative angular positions as illustrated in Fig. 5. To bring the shoulders in engagement or to bring the sleeve in the same position relative to-the sleeve of the yoke, as illustrated in Fig. 5, it is necessary to turn the threaded sleeve 29. This can be done only when the engine is at rest and the solenoid sis" denergized and when the spark is retarded, in which event the shaft 41 will be turned by the spring 42 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1. If the engine is at rest and the spark is notretarded, the arm 44 will preloo vent the turning of the shaft 41 under the action of the spring, or if the spark is retarded and the engine is in operation, the solenoid and arm 46 in a similar manner prevent the shaft 41 being turned by the spring so as to bring the sleeve 28 in operative relation with the sleeve of the yoke. This will be seen from an inspection of Fig. 4. It will be apparent from these figures that the pin and shoulder connections between the arms 44 and 46 and the shaft 41 permit the usual retarding or advancing of the spark without turning the shaft 41 after the engine is in operation.

'It will be seen from the above described apparatus that the engine can be started at the will of the operator by simply depressing the foot pedal i9, when the conditions are suitable for starting. However, after the engine is started, regardless of whether or not the operator keeps his foot on the pedal, the starter gear is thrown out of engagement with the engine or fly wheel, gear. After the engineis in operation, it will be impossible for anyone to accidentally or purposely connect the starter to the engine, and it will be impossible for him to start the engine with the sparkv advanced or in a position such that a reversal of the engine might result.

I do not desire to be confined to the exact details shown, but aim in my claims to cover all modifications which do not involve a departure from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a starter comprising a motor, power transmitting devices between the motor and engine, mechanism for shifting one of said power transmitting devices, said mechanism being under the control of the operator to establish the driving relation be tween the motor and engine and including a member adapted to be shifted by the operator, and means for breaking operative con- I nest-ion between said member and the movable power transmitting device when said member is shifted to a position to establish driving relation between the motor and en-' 1116.

b 2. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a starter comprising a motor, power transmitting devices between the motor and engine comprising two members, one of which is movable into and out of engagement with the other, a starter-controlling member adapted to be shifted by the operator to start the engine, connecting means between said controlling member and said movable member of the power transmitting devices, and means for disconnecting said starter controlling member from the movable member of said power transmitting devices, when said controlling member is shifted to establish driving relation between the motor and engine.

3. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a starter comprising a motor, power transmitting mechanism between the motor and engine comprising two members, one of which is movable into and out of engagement with the other, a starter-controlling member adapted to be shifted by the operator, connecting devices between said member and the movable member of the power transmitting mechanism for estab-' lishing driving relation between the engine and motor, and means for disconnecting said starter-controlling member from the power transmitting mechanism when the driving relation is established.

4. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a starter comprising a motor, power transmitting mechanism between the motor and engine comprising two members, one of which is movable into and out of engagement with the other, a starter-controlling member adapted to be shifted by the operator, to establish driving relation between the engine and motor, means for renderin said starter-controlling member inefiectlve when the driving relation is established, and means independent of said first named means for interrupting the driving relation between the engine and motor after the engine is started.

5.. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a starter comprising a motor, power transmitting mechanism between the motor and engine comprising two members i one of which is movable into and out of engagement with the other, a starter-controh ling. member adapted to be shifted by the operator to startthe engine, means for operatively connecting said controlling member with said movable member of the power transmitting mechanism, and means for preventing said connection being established when theengine isin operation.

6. lln combination with an internal combustion engine, a starter comprising a motor, power transmitting mechanism between the engine and motor comprising two members one of which is movable into and out of engagement with the other, mechanism adapted to be shifted by the operator for establishing driving relation between the motor and engine, and means for rendering said mechanism inoperative when the engine is in operation.

7. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a starter comprising a motor, power transmitting mechanism between the motor and engine comprising two members one of which is movable into and out of engagement with the other, means adapted to be shifted by the operator for moving said movable member of" the power transmitting 'mechanism into engagement with the other member thereof-for establishing driving relation between the motor and engine, and

means for disconnecting said means from said movable member of ,thepower trans- "mitting mechanismwhen the spark is advanced.

8. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a starter comprising a motor,

power transmitting mechanism between the motor and engine comprising two members one of which is movable into and out of en.- gagement with the other, mechanism adapted to be shifted b the operator for estab- 'lishing driving re ation between the motor and engine, and means for rendering said mechanism inoperative when the engine is in operation or when the spark is advanced.

9. In combination with' an internal combustion engine, a tarter'comprising a' mo- "tor, power transmitting mechanism between the motor and engine comprising two members one of which is movable .into and out of engagement with the other, a startercontrolling member, mechanism for conneoting said member to said movable mem- .ber of the power transmlttlng mechanism,

7 movement of .said controlling member.

V the motor and en said-connecting mechanism including two parts adapted to be connected and discon necte d, and means for causing the disconnecting of said parts after a predetermined 10. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a 'starter comprising a motor, power transmitting mechanism between 'ne comprising two members one of whic is movable into and out of engagement with theother, a starter-controlling member, mechanism for connecting said member to said movable member of the power transmittin mechanism, said connecting mechanism including two parts a adapted to be connected and disconnected,

means for causing the disconnecting of said parts after a predetermined movement of said controlling member, and means for preventing the rengagement of said parts when the engine is in operation.

11. In combination with an internal com bustion englne, a starter comprising a motor, power transmitting mechanlsm between the motor and engine comprising two memsaid parts when the sparkis advanced.

12. In combinationwith an internal combustion engine, a starter comprising a motor, power transmitting mechanism between the motor and engine comprising two members one of which'is movable into and. out

of en agement with the other, astartercontro ling member, mechanism for connecting said memb r to said movable memmeans for preventing the rengagement of ber of the power transmitting mechanism,- said connecting mechanism including. two

partsadapted to be connected and disconnected, means for causing the disconnecting of said parts after a predetermined movement of said controlling member, and means for preventing the reengagement of said parts when the motor is in voperation or when the spark is advanced.

, I In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM R. STRICKLAND.

Witnesses: Y

H. R. SULLIvArr, A. J. HUDsoN. 

